as in parochial
not broad or open in views or opinions
some people regard a fear of new things as an unmistakable sign of a provincial attitude
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in peasant
an awkward or simple person especially from a small town or the country
the confidence man figured that fleecing these provincials would be easy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of provincial
Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 3 Feb. 2025
Dark comedy Fabula, by Dutch director Michiel ten Horn, about a provincial criminal grappling with personal and professional failures, will open the festival, the first Dutch movie to do so since 2018.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Jan. 2025
Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2021
Canada’s capital is under two states of emergency, one local and another provincial.
—Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2022
See All Example Sentences for provincial
Adjective
Binoche starred in Rendez-vous as an eager young actress who flees her provincial home for Paris in search of fame and embarks on a series of turbulent relationships with three men played respectively by Lambert Wilson, Wadeck Stanczak and Jean-Louis Trintignant.
—Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 3 Feb. 2025
Dark comedy Fabula, by Dutch director Michiel ten Horn, about a provincial criminal grappling with personal and professional failures, will open the festival, the first Dutch movie to do so since 2018.
—Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 30 Jan. 2025
Noun
It’s shaped like a classic coming-of-age tale: a young provincial, Eloise Turner (Thomasin McKenzie), goes to the metropolis to realize her dreams and, in the process, has her illusions dispelled.
—Richard Brody, The New Yorker, 1 Nov. 2021
Canada’s capital is under two states of emergency, one local and another provincial.
—Washington Post, 12 Feb. 2022
See All Example Sentences for provincial
Recent Examples of Synonyms for provincial
Adjective
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This may seem like an impossible task in a world where politics is becoming more divisive, foreign policy more parochial, and social media bubbles more impenetrable.—
Harvey Whitehouse,
WIRED,
23 Jan. 2025
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For more than a century, religious education had been deeply entrenched in the state; in Cleveland, the parochial system was one of the largest in the country.—
Alec MacGillis,
ProPublica,
13 Jan. 2025
Noun
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In Cambodia, Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot pursued his nation to the killing fields to create only one peasant class.—
Lynn DeWoskin Covarrubias,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
12 Feb. 2025
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The film opens on a peasant couple summoning their son from a farm field.—
Paige Williams,
The New Yorker,
10 Feb. 2025
Adjective
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Is what he’s done a small sample size thing or something more?—
James Mirtle,
The Athletic,
18 Feb. 2025
-
The gigs in smaller rooms than Simon has typically played, will allow the singer to perform the songs from Seven Psalms live for the first time.—
Gil Kaufman,
Billboard,
18 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Sorrentino may also be exorcising some conflicting feelings about his birthplace, which is portrayed as a vulgar, crude place populated by crooks and hicks and photographed like its paradise.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
7 Feb. 2025
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In first grade, when a teacher called him a hick, Ciotti threw an inkwell at her.—
D. T. Max,
The New Yorker,
23 Sep. 2024
Adjective
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The professor said the groups committed crimes, but their offenses were relatively petty by today’s standards: brawling and shakedowns of non-gang members for their bikes or lunch money.—
Libor Jany,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Feb. 2025
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With the wave of a hand—or, to be more precise, the tapping of a few overnight posts on social media—American political horizons are being remade in ways that are petty and absurd.—
Penny Abeywardena,
Forbes,
22 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Off-mountain: Skiers who prefer to stay overnight in nearby Driggs, Idaho (a 20-minute drive from Grand Targhee) have a few rustic, albeit comfortable, possibilities.—
Lydia Mansel,
Travel + Leisure,
30 Dec. 2024
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Venues tend to lean rustic in much of Hillsborough County.—
Yacob Reyes,
Axios,
20 Dec. 2024
Adjective
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Last night’s special had a comparatively narrow focus, prioritizing the characters and celebrities that many younger viewers would recognize.—
Esther Zuckerman,
The Atlantic,
17 Feb. 2025
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The gap is quite narrow in some places, like Delaware and Maryland, but in places like Kentucky, systemic racial barriers continue to hold people back.—
Ben Berkowitz,
Axios,
17 Feb. 2025
Noun
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Florida yokels versus the elite Hollywood movie-star kind of group.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
26 July 2024
-
Ben’s refusal to stand down for a middle-aged white man seeking to wrest power from him was radical, as was the film’s ending, in which the hero was shot by yokels failing to distinguish him from the zombies previously described as animals.—
Richard Newby,
The Hollywood Reporter,
23 Oct. 2024
Cite this Entry
“Provincial.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/provincial. Accessed 28 Feb. 2025.
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